Occidental Petroleum Vying for Yates Petroleum

By

Ryan Dezember And

Anupreeta Das

Nov. 7, 2012 3:37 p.m. ET

Occidental Petroleum Corp. is among those vying for Yates Petroleum Corp., one of the largest closely held oil companies in the U.S., in a deal that could fetch as much as $3 billion, according to people familiar with the talks.

Yates, which has oil fields in New Mexico's Permian Basin and elsewhere in the U.S., is trying to sell itself before the year ends in an effort to avoid higher taxes on transactions that are anticipated next...